A Question
by Stefan-sama
Summary: Xingcai and Guan Ping share a conversation over a bit of routine sparring.


**This was... Not my best work. Both narration and dialogue seemed clumsy and clunky; not something I'm very proud of. Probably something having to do with me writing this in very, very short, disjointed bursts. I've just been so busy, jumping all over the place for summer. That, and homework. Ugh. I wanted to write something for Dynasty Warriors after I finished 5, but that was originally supposed to be a longer piece having to do with Liu Bei and Sun Shangxiang until my substantial progress with that was magically deleted. To get over that, I wrote this. I guess a bad impetus leads to bad writing. I did try and create my own characterization to expand upon the bare-bones given in-game, but if that didn't do it for you, I'm sorry. Gosh, even the title stinks.**

**A Question**

Xingcai flashed open her eyes, snapping out of her meditation. Getting gracefully to her feet, she gripped her spear and spun it around her in a beautiful, deadly dance that ended with it bared straight toward her opponent. Guan Ping, in turn, rolled his shoulder and dragged his massive blade across the stone floor with a loud crack and a harsh screech. Swinging the blade around to land on his shoulder, he motioned with his free hand for her to come at him with a confident grin. The two eyed each other motionlessly from across the ring, each taking a single long breath.

Xingcai's hips rolled strangely forward as Guan Ping's shoulders shifted in place. Simultaneously, the warriors blurred out of sight, whirling back into existence in the center of the ring just in time for their weapons to meet with a resounding clash. Her swing stopped cold against Guan Ping's blade, Xingcai expertly twisted in the air to flip over Guan Ping and extended her spear for a piercing thrust even as she fell. Years of sparring with her had taught him to anticipate such acrobatic maneuvers, however, and he too spun around with a mighty yell, bringing down his blade with force that split apart the floor to send her lance spinning out of reach.

Unfazed, Xingcai capitalized on his momentary readjustment to spring off the ground and launch a flurry of lightning-fast spear-hand strikes aimed at Guan Ping's chest, the last of which struck him square in the solar plexus. As he stumbled backward, she tossed her shield away and leapt back into the air, readying a deadly hurricane kick.

"Stupid! You should know better than to jump against me!" Guan Ping taunted, even as he coughed. He smashed his foot to the ground, the tremors causing his weapon to jump, and he caught the blade just in time to block the incoming attack with its flat. The cold glare in her eyes, however, told him that she had anticipated the maneuver, and she backflipped off the blade without a moment's hesitation; Guan Ping realized too late that she had in fact planned the kick so that she would be sent flying safely to where her spear sat.

Whirling the weapon about her, she charged him again, with renewed speed that barely let him parry the flood of lunges that seemed to strike from every possible angle. Suddenly, he felt his legs give out from under him; Xingcai had taken advantage of his captured attention and wheeled around for a sweep. Guan Ping crashed to the ground, and felt Xingcai's trident impale the tile by his neck. She stood above him, shadowed in the bright sun, her lips curled slightly upward in a victorious smirk.

Sighing loudly, he took the hand she extended and hopped to his feet, dusting at his knees. "Damn it!" he yelled to the skies, leaning back until he fell to a seated position. "One of these days I'm going to beat you," he said, looking up at Xingcai as his breathing returned to normal.

She sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around her legs. "That's what you said last time. And the time before," she said, still half-smiling. "Your problem is that you're never thinking about the next move. Always completely caught up in the now, always have been."

Guan Ping scowled sidelong at her. "And why's that a bad thing? A man doesn't worry about the future until he's given everything he has to the present!"

"You mean like that time when we were playing heroes and you were so absorbed that you jumped into the lake?"

"That was over a decade ago! Let it go already!"

"You forgot you couldn't swim."

"I didn't forget, I just... Agh, forget it!" Guan Ping groaned, running his fingers through his sweat-soaked oaken hair.

As he did, Xingcai saw his hand clearly; it was covered in scars, both old and faded and as fresh as a day. Many of them seemed to be bleeding anew from the match, thin streams of red disappearing into his sleeve. "You know me; I don't forget," she answered quickly. "But never mind that, what'd you do to your hand?"

Guan Ping withdrew his hand and looked over it, as if he didn't know what she was talking about. Then, seeing the cuts, he quickly pulled it back to his side, out of sight. "It's nothing. I was helping out in the kitchens; didn't turn out quite like I wanted," he said, grinning widely.

Unconvinced, she reached over his lap and gently held his hand up, inspecting it closely. "No one in their right mind would let you cook. You're as bad a liar as you are a fighter," she said, sighing as she let him go. "Now, what did you do?"

He too sighed, hiding his hand again in shame. "...Training," he replied, pouting in annoyance, as if he were a little child caught stealing candy. "I've been spending all my free time doing workouts, sparring, destroying targets. Well," he added sheepishly, "you saw; the targets have been more destroying me, really."

Xingcai shook her head; satisfied, but still unhappy. "Idiot," she said, tapping him lightly on the forehead. "Now what under heaven did you do that for?"

"Like I said, I'm going to beat you," he said, his grin more genuine. "How can I propose to you if I haven't won against you once?"

For once caught off-guard, she blinked and stared at him for a moment; the sincerity she saw in his deep brown eyes told him that she hadn't misheard. Again, she shook her head, but this time masked a near-silent, rare laugh. "You're right," she said, standing up and turning. "You can't."

"Hey, hey," Guan Ping said, jumping to his feet and running around to face her. "So? Would you say yes?"

Xingcai flipped her trident into the air with her foot, catching it mid-spin and punctuating his question by touching its blunt end to his chest. "Hurry up and beat me, then," she replied, looking up into his eyes with a confident smile. "Maybe you'll find out."

Guan Ping blinked, then returned the smile as he pulled up his sleeves.

* * *

Xingcai exhaled deeply, looking up to the skies. They were darkened, marred with black clouds, but not raining. She felt a tentative hand on her shoulder; Liu Shan's, it seemed. Receiving no response, he quickly withdrew and hurried down to where the rest of the dignitaries stood in stoic silence. Footsteps slowly faded away, leaving her alone on the hillside with the large gravestone. The monument was dull, mute, and dark, almost an insult to the headstrong vivacity of the person it remembered. She breathed again, putting an absentminded hand to her shoulder where Liu Shan had touched, leaving no imprint at all, where Guan Ping's warm, strong grip would have remained for hours, though gone forever now.

"Ping, you fool..." she said softly. "Finally, you almost had me in that last round, too..."

She lit a last stick of incense, then stood abruptly. "Shu still has me," she said loudly, to no one in particular. "I will never cry! I will continue to be strength for Shu!" She turned and began to descend the hill slowly, but resolutely. Silently, though, she thanked the heavens for sending down a first few drops of rain that she could use to mask her tears.

_But you were supposed to be strength for me._


End file.
